A year from now Tim Moritz hopes to be a homeowner and working a job with full-time benefits.

It's a simple enough goal. But what might be an almost inevitable life milestone for his peers was at one time something the 37-year-old Macomb resident didn't think was possible.

In early 2013, Moritz began the trek through the McDonough County Drug Court program, which until then hadn't been an option for non-violent drug and alcohol offenders like him — people who'd otherwise face jail time.

He'd lived life for himself, he said, and didn't have his eye on more than a week into his future. He drank and got into fights, and on more than one occasion, he was found intoxicated with Vicodin that wasn't prescribed to him.

"I've been around here for a while. I've been in a lot of trouble, in and out of this court house many times. It's ridiculous," Moritz said in an interview earlier this week. "And (State's Attorney James) Hoyle, I've had so many bad run-ins with Hoyle court-wise, on the street-wise, as person to person. I didn't like him, considered him the worst enemy in the world. And for him to still come back and recommend me for this (program) says a lot."

On Wednesday, Moritz became the first to formally graduate from the drug court program. It added some pomp to the weekly review of cases and personnel's meeting with the handful of program participants.

The ritual echoed into the hall outside with a bit of laughter and a brief applause from courtroom 203 before the crowd left and gathered in the main trial room down the hall.

Associate Judge Patricia Walton reflected on the purpose and theory of drug court. And she recalled her impression of Moritz before and upon entering the program.

"My recollection of Tim in the courtroom was of a very frustrated man who wanted to get it over with," Walton said, before elaborating on the progress the program has helped participants make.

"You can see defendants stand a little taller," she added.

After Moritz accepted a certificate of achievement, he shared a meal at the Red Ox Restaurant in Macomb with drug court personnel — like law enforcement, court officials, and people he said he once didn't see eye-to-eye with, people including Hoyle.

Getting over the sixth-month hump

It was Jan. 2, 2013, that Moritz said he put his signature to paper to participate in drug court, though a 45-day stint in jail, or what he called "an automatic detox," kept him from officially starting until the following month.

On Feb. 15 that year, he started the first of four phases.

Walton said the first phase is the most intensive, requiring more frequent visits with a probation officer, treatment and drug testing, before participants move on to the other consecutively less intensive phases.

Page 2 of 3 - Despite his attendance to Alcoholics Anonymous classes and drug testing while in jail, the constraints that came with committing to drug court was more than Moritz said he expected.

"You're not supposed to do anything, pretty much," he said with a laugh. "You're not supposed to hang out with any of your old bad influences, you're not supposed to drink, you're not supposed to go to bars. They left that up for grabs until you blew it, which I did."

Moritz said he didn't think he'd be the first to finish the program because of the few setbacks he saw.

He failed one test for alcohol and was caught at a bar on a night he ended up getting into a fight — going "pretty much back to my old self."

It took him sixth months before he had a handle on everything.

Walton said setbacks aren't unexpected, as part of the point of drug court is to help defendants change their lifestyle.

"It's changing the mindset because, you know, the participants lived a certain lifestyle for a long time," Walton said. "So it's kind of changing your thinking pattern … so if I go hang out at a bar, I'm putting myself at risk because these things can happen. It takes a while.

"A lot of people think, 'I can still have best of both worlds. I can be in treatment, but I can still (be at the bar) because this is where my friends are. So I can kind of tow the line and do both.' But everyone's figured at some point in order to be successful you have to change all that. Because your peer group, most of them are not positive relationships or influences."

And even if old habits didn't die hard, Mortiz admitted the number of tests, appointments and meetings wore down on his schedule in a way it never had before. Starting out in the program, he said he had to manage his job and more than 15 appointments a week.

"Pretty much the only day I cared about was the next paycheck," Moritz said. "I walked around with a calendar in my pocket all the time."

Though it lessens over the expected 18 to 24 months to complete drug court, Walton said the program is a huge commitment, especially for Moritz who'd a full-time job and delved into the program before others.

"It went from being angry and then kind of questioning, 'Why do I have to do this?'" Walton said of Moritz. "To his credit, he was the first person. I said, 'You're kind of the guinea pig, everybody's new to this.' So we had to move, change things, modify things. There was that frustration there. It's a lot to keep track of."

Page 3 of 3 - Setting goals and moving forward

Now, with a light at the end of the tunnel, Moritz said he doesn't regret anything about the experience.

Since he began drug court, he's gotten married, gained custody of his two children and is working on future plans to help support them, as well as his wife's two children.

Part of that has been his interest in getting into vocational training to change career paths to something more longterm. Drug Court Probation Officer Tye Adair described this pursuit in a letter that helped Moritz get an old driving under the influence charge in Knox County dropped down from a felony.

"Tim has approached the drug court team about his longing to go to welding school to better his position in life," Adair said in the letter. "Due to his good progress in the drug court program, Tim was approved for his tuition to welding school to be paid for by the drug court grant."

Moritz is enrolled for the fall semester in Spoon River College's welding program. He said that he already has a couple job opportunities on potentially on the horizon.

The 37-year-old also said he has been in touch with Habitat for Humanity of McDonough County and hopes a new home for his family is within reach.

For the first time in a long time, or potentially ever, Moritz said he's thinking about the longterm.

"I'm fixed, but I'm far from saying, 'I'm good,' and going (to) hang out at a bar. It's only been a year and a half," he said. "I'm still that same person, but now I just have a different way of thinking about it … I don't have many friends anymore, but I'm good with that because I've got my family now. Since I've been on it, I've gotten married, I've got my kids back. Everything's good."

Reach Jackie Smith via email at jsmith@McDonoughVoice.com, or follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.